WASHINGTON, March 1: US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has said that senior Palestinian official Mahmud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazin, will be acceptable to the United States as a replacement for Yasser Arafat.

Talking to reporters at the State Department on Friday, Mr Armitage said one of the reasons the United States wanted Mr Arafat gone is that, “Sharon and Arafat won’t talk to each other.”

When a reporter suggested removing both Arafat and Sharon, Mr Armitage said Israel had “a way of dealing with corruption and bad governance while these things are missing from the Palestinian Authority.”

He said the United States would want to see a leader who would be able to “speak authoritatively for the Palestinian people. A good prime minister, he said, “would be a great help to the Palestinian people and also allow them to talk to Israel.”

After meeting with Arafat in his Ramallah headquarters on Friday special UN envoy to the Middle East Mr Terji Road-Larsen announced the a special Palestine Liberation Organization council would meet next week to nominate a Palestinian Authority prime minister.

“I met with President Arafat on behalf of Mr Kofi Annan, the secretary general, and discussed with him (Arafat) several issues of common concern, especially the nomination of the Palestinian prime minister,” Road-Larsen said.

In Washington, Mr Armitage did not say whether the Israelis would also accept Abu Mazin, but he was a key figure in the Oslo negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians that led to the peace agreement. The Israelis regard him as a moderate member of the Palestinian leadership.

He remains secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization executive council and one of Arafat’s close aides, but he is no longer active, having distanced himself from the Palestinian leader in July last year when it became obvious that Arafat was no longer acceptable to Israel and the United States.

On Iraq, Mr Armitage said that if a change there brought about a Shia government, the United States would have no objection.